the infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering for a purpose, such as extracting information, coercing a confession, or inflicting punishment. It is normally committed by a public official or other person exercising comparable power and authority. Although the effectiveness of torture has been defended by many throughout history, notably Aristotle and Sir Francis Bacon, it was attacked as early as Roman times for encouraging its victims to lie. In ancient Greece and Rome, physical torture was lawfully used, usually on noncitizens or slaves, as a means of obtaining information or confessions. Later, in early medieval Europe, torture was used as the trial itself in the ordeal, wherein the suspect’s response to extreme physical pain served as the basis for establishing guilt or innocence. In the later Middle Ages, torture was again used to secure confessions in cases of serious crime (confession was known by the term “the queen of proofs”), though it was nominally subject...